It’s Beginning to Look a Little Like Winter…

I don’t know about you, but I was thrilled to look outside my Chicago real estate Friday morning and see snow.

I got over it pretty quickly.

Even though this season’s first snowfall turned out to be one of the latest in history, it still created quite a havoc on the roads.

At Chicago’s official reporting station — O’Hare International Airport — about a half inch of snow was recorded by 6 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

By 6:45 a.m., State Police in the Chicago District alone were responding to at least a dozen accidents because of the slick road conditions.

Chicago’s suburbs and expressways saw dozens more spinouts and accidents, including a fatal incident on the Eisenhower and two more on I-80 in Will County because of ice and snow.

Please, people, drive carefully.

This first measurable snow of 2011 ties with 1948 as the fifth-latest date on record for a winter season.

Chicago usually sees its first measurable snow of the season around November 21.

I’m sure many Chicago residents were hoping the city would break its record for the latest snowfall of the year, set on December 16, 1965.

While that didn’t happen, there is a potential consolation: According to the National Weather Service, every past year that hasn’t seen measurable snow before December 5 ended up recording below-average snowfall amounts from December through February.

Considering experts have been predicting that Chicago will get the most snow in the country this winter, that is a good stat to hold onto.